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"A Pinch of Salt" / Christians Interested in Anarchism 

"You are the salt of the earth" Matthew 5:13 

Issue Nine Donation appreciated / Free to prisoners 

Celebrate freedom / Destroy the Prison Systems of the World 























































































"A Pinch of Salt" Spring 1988 Number Nine 
c/o 24 South Road, Hockley, BIRMINGHAM B18 
Telephone 021 551 1679 


John Habgood, Archbishop of York, attacked Clause 28 as "a 
dangerous threat to civil liberties*' in a speech he made 
in the House of Lords: "Once the principle is there that the 
government can control the ideas which are read and 
published, we cannot tell how those who follow us will use 
those powers". Confining himself to the issue of civil 
liberties seemed a safe bet, as an assertion of lesbian and 
gay rights would have been a bit contentious - the issue 
and status of homosexuals being a great issue of debate 
within the Church of England. 


The Bishop of Ripen, David Young, made explicit his barring 
of active homosexuals from joining his clergy and his 
intention to discipline those already in his Diocese. In 
ammending a motion in the General Synod of the CofE from 
calling for expulsion of unrepentant homosexual clergy to 
describing homosexual genital acts as "falling short of the 
Christian ideal", great fears of moral liberalism, were 
induced and the Sun roared "Pulpit Poofs Can Stay". But, the 
Bishops showed their truer colours by saying that they 
didn't vote for disciplinary measures because they already 
existed. 


Clause 28 could be yet another link in the chain of 
reactionary and repressive legislation introduced by 
this government. Formerly Clause 27 (just to confuse 
you) it is intended to outlaw the promotion of 
homosexuality by schools and local councils. This 
amendment to the Local Government Bill will effectivly 
suppress gay life, arts and entertainment. 

There is widespread concern that gay help and informat¬ 
ion services, such as Lesbian and Gay Switchboard who 
are reliant on financial support from the government 
and local councils will be forced out of existence due 
to a curtailment of those funds by an authority which 
deems them to be "promoting " homosexuality. 

Viscount Falkland(I) articulates the concern of many: 

"The word"promote" in the amendment to the Local 
Government Bill is so broad that local authorities will 
not want to put their money behind anything that smacks 
of homosexuality. This is the back door to censorship." 
(Capital Gay 29/1/88) 

The repurcussions could be extremely oppressive - the 
National Council for Civil Liberties has said that gay 
clubs and discos were liable to lose their li cences - 
which have to be renewed annually by the local council. 
Theatres too may have to stop presenting plays which 
show homosexual life in a favourable light. 

Libraries too will be affected as books such as 
James Balwin f s "Giovanni's Room" and even Alice Walker's 
"The Colour Purple" will be removed from the bookshelves, 
thereby restricting the freedom of those who cannot 
afford the "freedom of choice" to go out and buy the 
books they want to read. 

Gay and lesbian teachers are those most at risk from 
Clause 28. The government fears that children are 
corrupted "in the formative years" by dicussion of gay 
lifestyles in the classroom, which could be seen by 
some as "promotion" with the intent (in the words of 
the Duke of Norfolk) to perpetrate "the sinister corru¬ 
ption of youth by promoting homosexuality". So, by 
explaining alternatives , or by even counselling a 
student a teacher could be subjected to a disciplinary 
hearing, sacking or even prosecution. 

Once more the government is attempting to curtail a 
basic human right, this time the right to express our 
sexuality. Resist their laws , express in love. 


So, the apparent tolerance is a bigoted "liberalism", and 
still few Christians stand up for lesbian and gay rights. 
The trend seems to be that to be homosexual is OK, but to 
be "active" isn't (although there are many who see 
homosexual orientation as something in need of healing)^ Is 
our sexuality a gift from God or not? Some strange c w j 
is afoot to allow someone a gift and then not let^WBs 
celebrate it. These are human lives which these producers of 
statements, motions and bigotry are dealing with. Lesbians 
and gay men aren't free in our heterosexist society: they 
are legislated against, discriminated against, disowned, 
abused, attacked. Christian lesbians and gay men often have 
further fear heaped upon them, and recent CofE 
pronouncements aren't going to help them to come out, and 
to enjoy the freedom of knowing their sexuality is accepted 
Richard Kirker, general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay 
Christian Movement (LGCM) is right in naming an "insidious 
sexual apartheid". 

And, with deaconesses and the advent of women deacons, the 
CofE is going to have to face up to lesbians in the ranks 
of its hierarchy (and what about lesbian and gay 
congregation members?). Lesbian Christians seem to be 
largely ignored - a subtle form of oppression. And, of 
course, the whole issue isn't limited to the CofE - it's of 
vital importance to Churches and Christians everywhere. 

Surely Christians have concerns to bring to human sexuality 
other than a fixation on, largely male, mainly ger^XL, 
homosexual expression. Where's respect, 
communication, love, concern and pre cautions? Jot 
particularly in some State-Christian institution of 

heterosexual monogamous marriage, in which woman's 

oppression is often compounded and legalised. Jot in a 
Church where the issue of two men or two women loving one 
another and expressing themselves, among many ways, 
sexually (and not necessarily genitally at that), causes 
more concern than the constant oppression, objectification 


1938 

“First they came for the Jews 
And I did not speak out- 
Because I was not a Jew. 

Then they came for the communists 
And I did not speak out- 
Because I was not a communist. 

Then they came for the trade unionists 
And I did not speak out- 
Because I was not a trade unionist 

Then they came for me- 
And there was no one left 
To speak out for me.” 

Pastor Niemoller 

1988 

SPEAK OUT NOW FOR LESBIANS AND GAYS 

STOP CLAUSE 28 

Clause 28 of the Local Government Bill 
is an attack on everyone’s freedom 


2 






and violence done to women; more than the fear which two 
people who love each other may live under. 


All this prejudice will have effects - is having effects. 
Gay priests, lesbian priests, and all homo-sexual Christians 
live in fear of discovery or denunciation and rejection. The 
Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement's office in St Botolph's, 
Aldgate, is under threat. It' not homosexuals who need 
healing of their sexuality (though alot have had many hurts 
inflicted upon them) - it's our heterosexist society". 

I have coihe that you may have life 
and have it in its full 

Let's educate ourselves - share ideas, experiences, talk with 
lesbian and gay Christians and non-Christians, learn about 
their lives and realise that same very real people are being 
trampled on and kicked out by Churches and people who show 
little love or toleration, and a great deal of ignorance and 
prejudice.® 


Lesley „,r4 nd Stephen 





CHRISTIAN ANARCHY 
- GIVE IT A GO 


"A Pinch of Salt" enters Its third year with this bumper Issue, 
and Christian Anarchy approaches its third millenium. A vision 
of the Kingdom of God among us has inspired the lives of many, 
throughout the centuries, in the pursuit of lives, communities 
and a world based on freedom, peace and Justice. The joy and 
insecurity of following Jesus has filled the hearts of all 
6orts of people. A few sparks of hope have been kicked through 
time, and their vitality can, at times, take hold of us: we 
become that revolutionary fool for Christ, if only for a. 
moment. Other times, we feel isolated, perhaps hopeless, 
si jnded by injustice and the perversion of human needs and 
th&^human spirit. The momentum of various oppressive systems 
may seem to tower above us - militarism, 
capitalism,"communism", patriarchy - and we may feel little 
more than a grain of 6and, barely able to make a scratch in 
the cogs of such phemomenal machinery. 


Some Christians have, over the last two thousand years, tried 
all manner of individual and collective expression in their 
lives of discipleship to create and herald the upside down 
order of the Gospel. Their marginalised histories, stories, 
experiments and writings can be discovered, and give us 
strength - the pacifist-communist early church, the early 
Franciscans, Valdensians, Lollards, Anabaptists, Taborites, 
Quakers, Diggers, Conscientious Objectors, Tolstoyans, and so 
on. We can draw inspiration and strength from people and 
activities going on around us today - the Plowshares activists, 
Catholic Worker Movement, radical underground churches 
struggling for peace and freedom in the eastern bloc, humble 
grassroots communities in inner cities, civil rights protesters 
in Guatemala, comralted individuals we may meet. But we must 
not just marvel at these little histories, these failed but 
inspiring movements, these heroic figures. The purpose of 
inspiration is to inspire. There are no saints. We are all 
saints - made from the same God-given stuff of humanity, and 
the sparks of God that fly through history are just as capable 
of setting alight you and me as they are Dorothy Day or 
Francis of Assisi. It is a denial of the Spirit for Churches - 
and Christian Anarchists - to put people on pedestals and to 
say "How inspiring, but I could never...." 

Radical Christian spiritual-political expression is dominated 
by state-socialism, be it reformist or "revolutionary". Our 
Marxist-inspired Christian sisters and brothers struggling for 


Photo on back page: Peter Tatchell shouted "bigots" from the 
public gallery as members of the General Synod stood to say 
grace after backing January's statement by David Young, who 
said he would refuse to ordain a priest he knew to be a 
practicing homosexual. 

"Lesbianism is a clear statement that a woman can and 
wants to live without the male influence in her immediate 
life. This threatens the very core of church and society, 
which teaches that without man to lead and guide, woman 
cannot survive. 

"As one who struggles to hold together the tensions within 
my sexuality and the church's unwritten prejudice towards 
it, I am considering whether I can remain within the church 
and be honest to my faith and to God" 
a lesbian deacon 

immiBmaiicmmfflmmiirammiii i iiiiiiBiiii E isiiiiiiiimiiiiniiimTBmii m mmiiimgimiaiPiiiiiJiiiiii BiinTiininnTtniiinniTnn 


liberation in South America, Asia and Africa, are right in 
saying that we need to draw tools and methods for analysis 
and change from more recent political expressions. The 
workings of multinational corporations aren't dealt with 
sufficiently by Isaiah or James (though they have a good go). 
Seeds of justice, peace and freedom (which are abundant in the 
Bible) need nurturing, and we have to be humble and 
adventurous enough to look to other traditions and insights - 
be they feminism or cooperative economic ventures. But do we 
need to chain ourselves to the power structures of state 
socialism, and the hope and tactics of "gaining power"? Do we 
have to carry on concocting arguments to justify hierarchies, 
the sanctity of laws, the altruism of government, the incap¬ 
ability of ordinary people controlling their own ordinary lives 
- be it in relation to churches or state? 


The kernels of anarchism are all around for us to discover: the 
upside down priorities of the gospels, the levelling of rich 
and poor, the hope of "powerlessness", the strength of small- 
scale collective action, the lives and writings of anarchists, 
the obvious violence which state systems necessitate; the 
simple observation that power structures are precisely that - 
protectors of power, even if it is the altruistic power of the 
middle classes. Christians know the worth of each individual, 
the potential of communion, of community, the freedom of the 
spirit. Anarchists know that factories don't need a class of 
bosses, that workers can own and control production, 
distribution, land, that communities can plan and provide 
truely appropriate housing, that anarchists can run the bus 
service. 


Anarchy in churches. Anarchy in homes. Anarchy in the 
workplace. Anarchy at military bases. Anarchy in the City of 
London. Anarchy in supermarkets. Anarchy in the Yorkshire 
Dales. Each of us, responsible, made in the image of God, 
joining together, being those Christian anarchists we always 
wanted to be. Ho more heros. Be perfect. Or, at least, give it a 

go* 

Christian anarchists of the world unite ^ 

We have nothing to lose but out reputation ® ^5 


Stephen 



— Q- • 
r c u u 
o . ® 

(U C 2 

x a a, 





















Brian Willson 


Counting the Cost 


“Just a tragic accident,” Captain Gary 
Ford of the Contra Costa County sheriff s 
office in California called it. A spokes¬ 
man for the military agreed. It was an 
“accident” 

The forty-seven-year-old veteran, S. 
Brian Willson had joined a handful of 
others in kneeling on the tracks on which 
a munitions train was to travel through 
the Naval Weapons Station in Concord, 
California, on its way to Port Chicago on 
San Francisco Bay. Final destination — 
El Salvador. Since June, a coalition of 
groups had been demonstrating at the 
base. With the advent of each new muni¬ 
tions train, the same events would play 
themselves out: Demonstrators would 
inform officials at the base and the local 
law enforcers that they would be block¬ 
ing the train’s path in protest of the 
United States’ warmaking in Central 
America. At the same spot each time 
they would take their place on the tracks 
near where they crossed a highway and a 
stretch of public land. The train would 
then appear, traveling about five miles 
an hour, and stop in front of the as¬ 
sembled group. Local police would arrest 
the participants and take them away. 

On September 1, as always, notices 
were given, and Brian Willson held a 
press conference. The police good- 
naturedly pleaded that this time they 
stop the train before it got to the high¬ 
way, so that they would not have so 
many angry motorists on their hands. 

A whistle was heard, and the train 
emerged, headed toward the highway 
crossing. It seemed to pick up speed, ac¬ 
cording to some there, as it moved 
toward the protesters. People on either 
side of the tracks began calling to the 
train to stop, that people were still in the 
way. There were two men riding shotgun 
in front of the train, as always, to check 
for obstacles in its path. One just shook 
his head as the engine advanced. 

As it was almost upon them, the pro¬ 
testers began to jump out of the way, 
and the last was Brian Willson, who had 
moved into a semicrouch and was push¬ 
ing himself out of the way when the train 
struck him. He was pulled under, his 
right leg severed below the knee, and his 
other leg so badly mutilated that it was 
later amputated, and several head injur¬ 
ies sustained. The train continued over 
him, not coming to a full stop until it was 
fully past the highway, and several hun¬ 
dred feet into the base. 



Accidents of Death 

We are expected to understand this as 
an “accident,” not so strange, in a way, 
since death often is spoken of now as an 
accident. Ben Linder, the young man 
from the United States who was killed by 
the Contras last April, while working on 
an electrical project near El Cua, Nicara¬ 
gua, wag said to be in the wrong place at 
the wrong time. Surely so many civilians 
killed in the Nicaraguan countryside by 
the Contras, are, by and large, not plan¬ 
ned assassinations, as is true for so many 
who die in the bombings we finance and 
oversee in El Salvador. “Accidental” too, 
are the millions of deaths that would 
result from a “justifiable” use of nuclear 
weapons against military targets. They 
are called, neatly, “collateral damage.” 
We do not intend to kill the people them¬ 
selves. They happen to be killed during 
our other - intentional - activities, which 
are deemed honorable and necessary. 

This is a problem of language, one 
might say, but it is hardly just words at 
stake. In any other situation, a slow mov¬ 
ing train would have stopped before 
reaching people in its way. But it didn’t. 
And, in the strange logic of things, be¬ 
cause it was part of such a conscious de¬ 
cision, the injury sustained, very predict¬ 
ably, was termed an accident. “It really 
was not because they wanted to kill any¬ 
one that they didn’t stop, it was be¬ 
cause. . . ” Something is there to shield 
the motives at work, and prevent their 
association with the consequences. 

On board the train was ammunition for 
helicopter machine guns, white-phos¬ 
phorous rockets, and heavy demolition 
bombs all destined for El Salvador. But 
those who loaded it, drove it, unloaded 
its cargo in El Salvador, packed it in on 
aircraft, flew to targets and there releas¬ 
ed the contents-all of them are not said 
to be simply trying to kill others, they 
are.. . . 

Brian Willson is now back home, recov¬ 
ering well. At a press conference while he 
was still hospitalized, he stated: 

Every time those munitions trains 
go past us, some people are going to 
be killed or maimed. When we come 
to feel sincerely that the lives of 
those people are worth no less than 
our own lives, we become fully liber¬ 
ated ... Our own government can 
only continue its wars with the 
cooperation of our people, and that 
cooperation is with our taxes and 
our bodies. Our actions and our ex¬ 
pressions are what are needed—not 
our whispers and our quiet dinner 
conversation. 

Hard words. The words of Jesus on dis- 
cipleship come to mind, “For which of 
you, desiring to build a tower, does not 
first sit down and count the cost, 
whether he has enough to complete it?” 



(Luke 14:18) How long people in Central 
America and elsewhere have been count¬ 
ing the cost of so many “justifiable” ac¬ 
tions on our part, and now we begin 
counting this same cost ourselves. “Who¬ 
ever would save his life will lose it, and 
whoever loses his life for My sake will 
find it.” (Matthew 16:25). Hard words. 
Are we ready to give up our lives? Are we 
willing to enter into the sacrifice of 
Christ? 

The local district attorney concluded 
on September 20 that in the matter in¬ 
volving Brian Willson there was no basis 
for criminal charges. Other investiga¬ 
tions are pending, fl 

TIM LAMBERT . 



The above article comes from the Dec¬ 
ember issue of the Catholic Worker. 
Brian is a member of Veterans Fast 
For Life. Letters may be sent to him: 
c/o Elizabeth Hallett 
1827 Haight St., Box#3 
San Francisco, CA 94117 USA 


"What shall separate us from the love 
of Christ? Shall tribulation, or dis¬ 
tress, or persecution, or famine, or 
nakedness, or peril, or sword....No.. 
But in all things we overwhelmingly 
conquer through him who loved us." 
Romans 8.35 



No U.S. 
Intervention in 
Dineh (Navajo) 
and Hopi Lands 

Stop P.L. 93-531 


Ministry of Defence 





























cjtipfxrl’ DiffilitiegisfancC' 

lntaraatiofial .Big- [DotmkiinX^ek Fifie'l 2"^ 

3S6& 


invasion, a threat that streaks 
across their skies in the form of 


The government of the United 
States, while doing the bidding 
of the energy barons, plans the jets and helicopters, 

forced removal of thousands of 
Dineh (Navajo) People from their Traditional 
traditional home to new lands caretakers 
which are radioactive because of 
spills from the uranium mines. 

The Dineh land is wanted for its 
coal, oil, natural gas and 

uranium. The U.S. government 
fabricated a so-called ''dispute" 
between the Dineh and their 

neighbours,^ the Hopis, to 

manoeuver f their ancestral protest 

homelands away from them. 


Peoples are the 
of Mother Earth. If 
they are to survive, they need 
our help and support. The San 
Diego BIG MOUNTAIN SUPPORT GROUP Resistance, 
has initiated the organizing of 2. Help 
the INTERNATIONAL BIG MOUNTAIN petitions, vigils, demonstrations 
WEEK, APRIL 9th-16th. " in your area. 

3. Reprint this information for 
The purpose of the international organizations in your area. 



protest 


There is no dispute. The U.S. 
Government and Mormon Church 
created the "dispute" and control 


is to place the Dineh 4-. Send us donations 
Resistance before the eyes of the costs of organizing, 
world with the demand that the 5. 

United States 

international human 

treaties and resolutions 


to cover 


the Tribal Council, even though demanding that the United States 
Hopi People and the end its systematic threat of 

aditional Hopi Elders side with forced removal and all human 
the Dineh. Traditional Hopi and rights abuses against the Dineh 


Translate information into 
follow other languages. 

rights 6. Send us copies of all fliers, 
We are articles or posters dealing with 
International Big Mountain Week. 


Write letters 


to the U.S. 


7. Get Vol. 1 & 2 if BIG MOUNTAIN 

INFORMATION PACKETS ($5 each plus 
postage) - all cheques payable to 

this made it easy for the energy of human rights to Indian People B.M.S.G. 

barons to get P.L. 93-531 passed by the government of the United 

in the U.S. Congress mandating States of America. The policies government and embassy, 

forced removal of the Dineh of genocide are still being 

People. played out as Indian land is 

stolen. Indian culture, religion, 

Just north of Big Mountain is an and tradition is being willfully L. Floyd, Arthur J. Miller 
area called the Black Mesa. destroyed. 


Dineh do not believe in People, 
participation in U.S. sponsored 

elections and government. In 1972 There has been a historic denial 


Project Coordinators: Christina 


There, huge strip mining 

equipment digs long trenches 150 The Dineh Resistance i 
feet deep. Coal is taken from the of 


INTERNATIONAL 


RESOLUTION 


OF 


solidarity for the 
trenches and the land is filled Government can, by law (P.L. 93- 

in and "reclaimed". Not one’ foot 531), proceed at any time with 
of "reclaimed" land has ever come their planned military 

back. It is all dead land. These intervention. Help us send a 
monster machines are heading in message, throughout the world, 
the direction of Big Mountain. that the U.S. Government can no 

longer mistreat the original 
The Dineh have been forced to people of America or violate 


in need SOL IPAR ITY 
U. S 


WITH 


THE 


DINEH 


reduce 90% of their livestock every 


^^hich is the main means of their resolution and 


RESISTANCE 

Whereas the Government of the 
United States of America 
continues its threat to force 
thousands of Dineh from their 
homelands, and continues to 
violate the religious and human 
rights of the Dineh people. We 
the undersigned call for 
international solidarity for the 


international treaty 

human rights Dineh Resistance at Big Mountain 


If-survival). All construction agreement that it has signed with and endorse the International Big 


nas been banned, water wells have regards to Indians, 
been sabotaged, and the Dineh are 
harassed and arrested by 
government agents. They are under 


Mountain Week, April 9th - 16th, 
1938 . 


Please help if you can. 

1. Endorse the Resolution 


constant threat of military Solidarity 


with 


the 


of Name and 
Dineh 


full address of Group 



<*TO MOVE AWAY MEANS TO DISAPPEAR 
AND NEVER BE SEEN AGAIN." 

—Paulme Whicesmjer 



Try to get your church, anarchist 
group, student group or whatever 
to fill in the above endorsement. 
Rather than fill i n an 
endorsement on behalf of 
Christians Anarchists (which is 
impossible and unanarchic), send 
in your name to "Pinch" if you 
want to be included on an 
endorsement from "some Christian 
anarchists" - by 25th March at 
the latest. Ta. 


international Big fflountain^v^ek 
jRfi. Sox 2576 San Qieqo^Ca. 92U2, U.S. A 


P.S. Anyone interested in a vigil 
outside the U.S. Embassy sometime 
during the week, get in touch and 
we'll arrange and publicise.® 


5 
























“POES BEIIsIG A CHRISTIAN AHI> 


A SOLDIEK Fir TOGETHERl < * 


The following article appeared in Peace News No. 2302 of last year. It's a shortened version of an interview of Mark 
Lane which Viv Kendon recorded when in Mutlangen, West Germany. Mark, an ex-soldier, worked in the US Army for 11 years 
before being discharged as a conscientious objector (CO) early last year. 


I joined the army in February 1976. In January 1978 I was 
transferred to Schwabish Ground, West Germany, and 
worked with Pershing la missiles until May 1982. Then I spent 
a year in the US as an instructor for Pershing la, and in July 
1983 I was sent back to Germany, to Heilbronn where I 
worked on the change-over from Pershing la to Pershing 'll. 
What was it like working with Pershing? 

The training is supposed to make you automatic, like a robot, 
so you could count a missile to fire it even in your sleep. At 
least one a month, NATO and the US Army have an alert; the 
soldiers aren't supposed to know if it's real or not. Once we 
had a training countdown at about 3am, and were back in bed 
again by about 4.30. In the morning someone said to me 
"Hey, that was a pretty good count you guys did last night," 
and I realised I couldn't remember anything about it, not even 
getting out of bed. 


And Libya? When the US bombed Libya everythinq 
on manoeuvres. It really looked to us like the US 
paring for war to break out. 


went out 
was pre- 


They wfsren'i going out to fight, they were going out to hide. 
The US was really scared of a terrorist attack, so thev hid 
everything. - ~ - y u 


The US does a lot of things overseas without telling NATO, or 
their "host countries"; the US is part of NATO but doesn't 
trust NATO. 


If the stuff the US has already is scary enough, like backpack 
nuclear bombs more powerful than Hiroshima, what they are 
planning is worse. Martin Marietta has already submitted 
plans for a Pershing III which will look just like a civilian truck 
driving along the road, the driver will be in civilian clothes, 
and the launch sites will look like civilian factories. The US 
military is already buying up old factories in Germany using a 
front company. 



So what made you want to get out? 

It was a religious experience in the spring of 1984, which both 
me and my wife had together. For 19 months I sat there 
fighting it, fighting myself, fighting God, fighting the world, 
fighting everyone. How does being a Christian and being a 
soldier fit together? I did lots of Bible study and lots of talking 
with my wife. Finally I decided I would have to quit one, and 
being a Christian was more important in my life. 

In December 1985 I resisted for the first time, I refused to pull 
guard duty on Pershing 11 at Heilbronn. In January 1985 I 
applied for a discharge as a CO. As soon as I made the 
application they kept me away from anything sensitive. In 
February 1987 I refused to wear the uniform. It was the only 
symbol that told the world that I was a soldier, and because I 
was not one to myself, I did not want the world to think, of me 
as one. Finally, in March 1987, I was released with an 
honourable discharge. 

The decision to quit wearing the uniform was the hardest. I 
talked to my wife all evening, then I talked to Bill Boston of 
the Military Counseling Project in Mutlangen for an hour on 

the telephone, then a Vietnam veteran, then some other 
people, I talked on the phone till 3 or 4am. I got up the next 
morning, put on the uniform and thought, "no, it's too much 
of a risk", and sat down to breakfast. 1 spent the next hour 
dithering, then took it off, wrote a brief statement, and called 
up Bill to tell him. I felt good about it all the way to work. The 
First Sergeant said "I don't know what to do" and he phoned 
the lawyers. Eventually, I was passed on to the commander 
who ordered me to put the uniform on. The military lawyers 
urged me to accept a non-judicial punishment, and the 
civilian lawyers said 1 had no chance of winning if I took it to 



Mark Lane 


court to try to win the right for others to do the same. Then 
they asked if I would accept a bar to re-enlistment and 
request a discharge on that basis, I agreed so long as I did not 
have to put the uniform back on. So they gave me a non¬ 
judicial punishment of a $600 fine and the loss of one rank. 

My commander gave me a letter giving me permission not to 
wear the uniform and a week later I was out, a civilian. 

What was the reaction of family and friends? 

My family was pleased, the kids knew I hated being a soldier 
and wearing the uniform, and it would mean I had more time 
to spend with them. Most families in the army complain they 
never see their fathers. 

All my friends turned their backs on me. Younger soldiers 
respected me but kept their distance because it might cause 
problems for them. The wives of other soldiers turned their " 
backs on my wife and their kids wouldn't play with our kids. 

My Captain, who was a close friend, wrote in the statement 
he had to make on my CO application that he didn't feel I was 
sincere, just trying to find an easy way out of the army. Then 
he wouldn't talk to me again until two weeks before I got out, 
when he was being transferred. Then he apologised for what 
he had written, said he had felt gulity about it, but he had held 
it in for a whole year. 

When did you get in touch with the peace movement? 

There were regular blockades at Heilbronn: when I applied 
for my discharge I said to my wife, "the day I get out I'm 
going to be on the other side of that gate blockading". But my 
first contact with the peace movement wasn't until January 
1987. 

Until then I kept away from contact with the peace movement 
to try to keep out of more trouble. It is illegal for a US soldier 
to demonstrate in a foreign country. January 11, 1987 was 
the anniversary of the accident at Walheide and my wife went 
to the vigil there. She talked to a woman who introduced her 
to another woman and through her I met Bill Boston. I had 
expected the reaction to be "well, what can you tell us?" 
Instead it was "How can we help you?". 


What are you doing now? 

Once I had decided to leave I started looking round for what 
God wanted me to do. I went through all the possibilities of 
religious work but none of them quite fitted. Now I'm a peace 
worker and a counsellor for soldiers who face problems with 
the military or who want out. I'm working with Bill Boston 
and a few others. We have established a Military Counselling 


6 














Network n ere in Germany and work along with the Central 
Committee for Conscientious Objectors in the US. I would 
encourage the sam^ to be set up in other countries where 

there are US soldiers. 


« AT THE SEUIU 


What's important to you now? 

Religion, and what it means to world peace. My beliefs get 
strc^ce' o. me cay. To clear my conscience I find I have to 
clea' o-t me es :ne military has taught me. It is impossible 
for me to stand by and keep letting the military take over our 
lives a~z me world. Because of this I have done a lot of 
lectu res, interviews and speeches since the day I got out. I am 
also working with a lot of groups like the Presshutte in 
Muttargen or the Freidensforschung in Stranberg (a peace 
reseamn institute near Munich). They are also helping to 
make sure I don't get into trouble by saying too much that is 
sensitive or classified for the military. 



What is the most threatening aspect of the military now for 

you? 

The money behind it all. The military-industrial complex is so 
big. t Keeps developing and developing and then selling the 
weapons to the military, even when the military doesn't need 

the weapons. 

Since Vietnam, there's been the concept that human soldiers 
aren't that dependable, so they are starting to design robots 
There is a little robot car that takes the place of a scout—al 
remote control radar and computer. There are even personal 
jet cars so that soldiers don't have to march any more. But 
they also don't care about human soldiers, if they get killed in 
operations, tf a base is in danger of being captured they will 
destroy it, never mind if all the soldiers are out the way or 


On March of last year Huntingdon Magistrates sent¬ 
enced Rev. Michael Scott, Mik the Vic, to 30 days 
in prison for the non-payment of £225 fines, incur 
red after celebrating Christmas on USAF Alconbury 
runway and painting "Hands Off Nicaragua" on the 
same runway on Ascension Day. In a letter printed 
in "Koinonia"* the newsletter of Clergy Against 
Nuclear Arms Mik wrote the following: 


"After 24 hours in Bedford I was moved to Ranby, 
given a beautiful room and was helped by a Jamaican, 
who mopped the corridors while I sang hymns so 
loudly they threatened to lock me up.* My fellow 
criminals were extremely friendly and the author¬ 
ities charming. The Chaplain invited me to the 
altar in my prison clothes to say the Eucharistic 



Testament, because everything in the Gospels was 
happening to me. 


I commended a fellow inmate for belonging to the 
Animal Liberation Front, as it was founded by Jesus 
Christ, when he released the pigeons and livestock 
from cages, reared for obsolete sacrifices for a 
religion maintained by corrupt monetarists. The 
officers were worried. If I was successful I might 
do them out of a job. "Have no fear", I reassured 
them, "if I succeed in converting people to my 
version of Christianity, you'll never be out of a 
job, as your prisons will be bursting at the 

HIM 

s earn s. • 


not 

My last time on duty at Walheide, the wrong code was sent to 
headquarters. The code that was sent put the entire base 
under duress, so bombers were sent in to destroy the base 
that was supposedly under threat. We were desperately 
trying to send the right code back to headquarters so they 
would not destroy the site and us. Meanwhile the pilots of the 
,*ju8ts were fly ng over us and radioing back I don t see any 
oblems, do you still want us to go ahead?" ■ 

Contacts for military counselling in West Germany: Bill Boston, Military 
Counseling Project Mutiangen, Forststr 3, D-7075 Mutlangen; Mark Lane, 
Military aTd Draft Counseling, Rob Koch-str 3, D-6927 Bad Rappenau; 

U~ :ed States : Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors, 2208 South 
Street Philadelphia PA 19146: Citizen Soldier, 175 Fifth Avenue, Room 808, 
New York NY 10010 (publishers of On Guard, a newspaper for Do soldiers), 
Brits r War Resisters International, 55 Dawes Street, London SE17 1EL; tel 
01-7037189; At Ease _ _ 



Hello Stephen 


ONE OF THREE LETTERS 


*CANA, 38 Main Road, Norton, Evesham, Worcs. WR11 



Peaceful protest: Members of Christian CND marking Holy Innocents Day 

by picketing a Ministry of Defence office at Bath. 


...I hope everything is going alright in Birmingham 
- "A Finch of Salt" last issue was very interesting 
Having finally got a copy of Eller's "Christian 
Anarchy" I can't help agreeing wholeheartedly with 
your article. Eller seems to have decided that 
Anarchism means whatever Eller decides and Christ¬ 
ianity even more so. Whatever it is that he 
believes to be the vision of the Kingdom (and I'd 
defy anyone to get behind all of his ridiculous 
theological red-herrings and hero worship to find 
out) it doesn't seen to be one of any action or 
change atall. The world doesn't get turned upside 
down with Eller's Christian Anarchism; it is left 
exac tly as it is with one man feeling slightly 
more at hoee in it now he's found a niche for him¬ 


Oh dear I'm being a bit judgemental, but mind you, 

I found the book enormously irritating. After all 
it's not so much that he's utterly misrepresented 
the Christian Anarchist tradition - it's not labels 
that mean anything to us - but he's just judged the 
whole purpose of our lives - to be partakers in the 
radical kingdom of God - when he could have got so 
near to it if he'd thought about the implications «. 
of the title a bit more. 

Ah! 

Anyway, thanks for keeping it all going. APoS 
means quite a bit to me now as I'm sure it does to 
a lot of others. 

Your friend, 

♦ * 

Justin Meggitt. 


self • 


7 











solidarity With plowshares prisoners 



"IS IT POSSIBLE TO BE 
VIOLENT TO A NUCLEAR 
WARHEAD? I JUST LIKE 
TO TAP AT THEM. ” 


On September 9th, 1980, the "Plowshares Eight" entered 
a General Electric plant in King of Prussia, Pennsyl¬ 
vania where the nose cones for the Mark 12A nuclear war¬ 
heads were manufactured. With hammers and blood they 
enacted the Biblical prophecies of Isaiah(2:4) and 
Micah(4:3) to "beat swords into ploughshares" by 
hammering on two of the nose cones and pouring blood on 
documents. They were subsequently arrested, tried, con¬ 
victed and sentenced. 


Recognizing the imminent peril nuclear weapons pose for 
all life, there have been other communities and individ¬ 
uals since the Plowshares Eight action who, after a 
process of spiritual preparation and reflection have 
symbolically yet concretely disarmed components of U.S. 
first-strike strategy, and, more recently, U.S. Central 
American interventionary equipment. There have been 
twenty five such actions, so far, two of which took 
place in Germany. None so far have taken place in 
Britain. Sentences have been as high as eighteen years. 

"So when we break the law legalizing the end of the 
world - we are saving lives. When we resist Trident II 

or Reagan's Contra war-we are saving lives. And 

when we enact Isaiah 2 and Plowshares, linking First 
Strike and interventionary war to Reagangate, we are 
saving lives. And when we survive in the empire's 
jails, we are indeed saving lives. Those in jail for 
nonviolent resistance, know the bottom line, live the 
bottom line. 

....We need the imagination that flows from faith.. .We 
are insisting on social and political morality beyond 
the capacities of politicians. 

....Finally - we ought to resist when we discover any 
tendency to think that God is like us. We are command¬ 
ed to be like God." 

(Philip Berrigan, quoted in Plowshares News¬ 
letter) 

The following letter is one from Jerry Ebner, printed 
in "AT THE DOOR", Newsletter of the St Francis Catholic 
Worker in Chicago. We reported Jerry's and Joe's and 
Helen's disarmament action in the last "Pinch of Salt". 
Joe and Jerry have since been and sentenced, and would 
welcome letters and cards of support. 


I will always say the same. 

( Maybe not always with the teeth showing in my smile.) 

... but still a resounding yes. The simple reason is 
that I was very sure about the action on the day we did 
it. It was the most joyfilled day of my life. Like a 
dream come true...that it really came to pass...even as 
planned. 

I still have a slight sense of sadness..only because 
I know our action is not the only answer or the last 
answer. Our action was very simple, modest in taste 
and symbolic. More Disarmament work needs to continue. 

I am only one person. I can do so much, but only so 
much, the rest of ot os often beyond us, but also 
within us while acting in conspiracy with the Holy 
Spirit. 

As I see it, for myself, I was acting in concert with 
the tradition of the Catholic Worker Movement in which 
Dorothy and Peter Maurin spoke of: "We move away from a 
self centred individualism toward the good of the other 
This is to be dome by taking responsibility for 
changing conditions rather than looking towards the 
state or ether institutions to provide impersonal 
charity". 

The usual practice of that has been for Catholic 
Workers to takeresponsibility to be family to the 
houses of houses and offer them a home and hospitality 
rather than asking the government to open houses of 
hospitality. 

In regards to militarism and disarmament of nuclear ^ 
weapons - who is going to disarm these weapons of ours 
while the government builds five more each day and 
assemble them in Amarillo, TX? 

Who is going to lead others to the real hope that 
disarmament is possible? Or are we to leave the work 
of justice to the stae or other institutions to provide 
impersonal charity. (By and large we've done this while 
the government only talks aims control while building 
more.) 

Our action (Joe, Helen, and I) is only symbolic .. 
a symbol speaks to a larger reality. Much more than 
what we did needs to be done. 

"The harvest is rich, but the workers are few; there¬ 
fore asj the harvest master to send workers to the har¬ 
vest. Be on your way, and remember I am sending you as 
lambs into the midst of wolves." (Luke 10:2-3) 

3'erry Ebner 

QOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCGOOOOCXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX» 

Jerry is interested in studying more about Christian 
socialism and Christian anarchism, and loves personal 
letters: write....Jerry Ebner 04467-045 

F.C.I. Box 1000 

Sandstone, MN 55072, USA ^ 
Joe writes "I am still trying to figure why Jerry and I 
got 30 & 40 months and 4 years probation when we did 
$12,920 damage and my wife got 6 years and 5 years 
probation when her share of the damage was $424.48 
Jean was imprisoned for a previous Plowshares action: 

write.Joe Gump 04468-045 Jean Gump 03789-045 

Oxford F.P.C. Alderson Women's Prison 

Oxford, Wisconsin, USA Box A, Alderson, 

WV 24910 


Dear Friends, 

I was asked to share any reflections about the 23rd 
Plowshares action that I and two others participated 
in, on August 5, 1987. 

At first my response was, "Oh please, don't ask me 
to do that, I'm not a very good writer, and I certainly 
can talk too much, as the best of my friends will tell 
you" (Don't all jump and testify to the truth at the 
same time.) ^ 

The County jail, the Lafayette County jail where I am 
now after the third and fourth transfers by the U.S. 
marshalls, is hot a good place to reflect upon much of 
anything- except the noise and the crazy reasons why 
other prisoners are here. However, I will be brief. 

One needs all the truth one can keep, even at a distance 

Many prisoners all ask Joe and I a similar question 
in various ways. " Is it worth it?" realizing the 
years of prison time. Without much responce time I say 
"Yes!" with excitement and a smile on my face. I think 

8 


An up-to-date list of prisoners' addresses and support 
groups is available from "Pinch of Salt", including a 
description of all the actions. It's a sixteen page 
booklet - send 20 pence in stamps and a SAE. We've 
also got. some "Swords Into Ploughshares" and "Solidarity 
With Plowshares Prisoners" badges (25p) and some 
posters of Larry Cloud Morgan hammering a missile silo 
(black and red A3, 20p). Any donations to cover costs 
of publicity leaflets is welcome. Hoping to bring out a 
good leaflet in time for the Aldermaston demo. Cheques 
payable to "A Pinch of Salt". 

There's a European gathering for Christian peace makers 
in June, where Plowshares issues will be discussed. Get 
in touch via "Pinch" if you're interested. 

Also, I'm definitely hoping to arrange a gathering for 
British people interested in Ploughshares actions and 
themes, so write if you want to be put on the publicity 
mailing list. Oh yes, I've got copies of the latest 
"Ploughshares Newsletter" for 40p - well worth the 

read. • spears Into Pruning Hooks &c. 

(xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Stephen oooooooooocoooooo 








CAPITALISM- NOT SO MOCK UNCK^lSTIAH AS ANTKHfllSTMN 


In 1937 R.H.Tawney wrote a memorandum for a church 
conference describing capitalism in terms which 
seem to apply today : 

"Capitalism today . is not so much un-Christian 
as anti-Christian .... It has indeed, like it’s 
totalitarian rival miscalled Communism, some of 
the characteristics of a counter religion. Its 
emphasis on the supreme importance of material 
riches ; the intensity of its appeal to the 
acquisitive appetites of material riches; and the 
skill with which it plays on them; its worship 
of economic power its subordination of human be¬ 
ings to the exigencies , or supposed exigencies, of 
an economic system, as interpreted by other human 
beings who have a pecuniary interest in interpret¬ 
ing them to their own advantage; it s erection of 
divisions within the hauman family based on differ¬ 
ences, notimerely of personal quality and social 
function, but of income and of economic circumst¬ 
ances- these qualities are closely related to the 
end which capitalist societies hold to be ail-imp¬ 
ortant. In such societies as the practice of the 
above clearly shows, they are commonly regarded not 

s vices but as virtues. To the Christian they are 
— ices more ruinous to the soul than most of the 
conventional forms of immorality." 

Yes, yes ... written in 1937 that all applies in 
1987- increasingly. The monster is not dying: it 
continues to grow. It s stench is poisoning the 
world, as George Lansbury used to say. We see that 
more and more that capitailism- ruthless competit¬ 
ion - is destroying it s own base of operations- 
the planet. It is, however both useless and impos¬ 
sible to try to kill the monster. We have to slow 
it down, stop it in it s tracks and put the animal 
into reverse. If humanity goes backwards into dis¬ 
aster as the capitalist system of accumulation goes 
forward, the reverse will be true. As the system 
wanes and dwindles, humanity will grow and flower. 

It cannot be done by violence which only brings 
something worse - such as the system miscalled 
Communism (Tawney's phrase). Therefore it cannot be 
done by state laws in the beginning or at all so 
long as the state consists of a mass of warring 
individuals dividing ourselves into classes and 
factions, tribes and nations, each seeking to 
^bjugate their neighbour or competitor in busi- 



ness 

A 


’You have sold the righteous for silver and the 
needy for a pair of shoes."Amos 2:6 


simply because the community does not yet exist. 
Legislation for this purpose can only do one of two 
things: either create a chaos of unenforceable laws 
....or a new bureaucratic monster. 

"Community" can only be created by the conquest 
of violence by love and patience, as the Digger 
leader Gerrard Winstanley affirmed more than 300 
years ago: that is by "families of love".' Begin¬ 
ning in tiny groups, these families ever extending, 
meeting, coalescing - engulfing the monsters with 
faith, hope and charity, with love and laughter. 
Satan can’t stand laughter: good humoured laughter. 
Satanic laughter is, of course, satanic: pitiable.■ 


Dick Connell 


"The "Family of Love" conception (16th Century) is 
explained by Christopher Hill, "The World Turned 
Upside Down". 


VIRAJ MENDIS WILL STAY 


state without violence would not be a state. One 
mistake consists in talking about "The Community" 
when referring to our present "society" of violent, 
warring groups and individuals: the word "community" 
should mean "being one together" just as the word 
invest" should mean putting clothes on people, at 
present half naked, instead of using their labour 
to overfill ones own wardrobe. In particular the 
excellent^notion that land should belong to "The 
Community" cannot be put into effect by legislation, 



DEFEND THE SANCTUARY I 







































































































AMD SET THE PRISONERS FREE*. 



The other week I appeared before Birmingham Mag¬ 
istrates Court for three unpaid fines related to 
anti-nuclear protests over the last one and a half 
years. Following through my assertion that what I 
had done was proper, and maintaining a spirit of 
unrepentance, I was prepared for a prison sentence - 
nervous, but resigned. It was to be my first time in 
prison in this country (the previous sentence was in 
Denmark for painting on a runway, but the whole epi¬ 
sode was surreal and didn’t affect me much). I came 
out of prison a week later, tired, not having eaten, 
depressed and disempowered by the most sustained 
atmosphere of violence I’ve ever experienced. In 
relation to the sentences and suffering people 
undergo the world around, my experience was mere 
scratches, and slightly embarassing - being in for 
a week (in a cell 13 feet by 6 feet, meant for one) 
with someone in for ten years and someone in for 
life. But, if telling my experience can lift a few 
illusions, and especially make some Christians think 
about the nature of our "law and order" system and 
their relationship to it, then they’ll be words well 
sp^nt. 

Court was simple, brief, and I felt strong and 
clear. I was given time to speak, and wasn’t 
hassled by the clerk, who I 'd met in less relaxed 
procedings in previous court cases. I told the 
magistrates the activities behind my fines, why I 
wouldn’t pay, and why I thought they had no right 
to make enforceable judgements, finishing with a 
good rule of thumb: "let the person without sin 
cast therfirst stone". Three friends were in court 
to support me. One of the two magistrates was a 
vicar. The sentence was soon announced: "Two weeks.. 
...two weeks....one week....to be served concurrent¬ 
ly" (ie two weeks in all, with half off for "good 
behaviour", making one week - in Tuesday, out 
Monday morning). The officer who took me away could¬ 
n’t find a way down to the cells, so we wandered 
around the courts a bit - bumped into Roger, Mark 
and Jay again, said goodbye - and finally descended. 

Again, in the custody of the court police, I was 
asked some personal details, including my date of 
birth, which I again refused. They said they were 
a fairly tolerant lot, but there were others who 
weren't so, and that I was just banging my head 
against a brick wall and would just end up bloody 
and bruised. Quite threatening words just before 
going into prison. «X was in a cell for an hour, with 
time to sing and think of, especially, political 
prisoners around the world. I watched and listened 
to the banter of the prison officers - through.* * . 
my cell-door hatch I could just see hands on hips, 
chains on keys, and wrestling. There were also 
shouts of "Greenham Common", periodic stares into 
my cell, and an awful racist joke, which drew merely 
laughter. There were black people in the cells, all 
within hearing range, absorbing further racism from 
agents of a system who make no pretence of equality. 
The symbol and power of keys was to be a recurring 
image. 

10 


I was then led to a prison van, and locked in a 
cramped cubicle a bit like a compressed confession 
box, and driven to prison - I followed the route 
through some scratches in the blackened glass. 
Arriving at Her Majesty's Prison Winson Green, we - 
about ten of us - were taken to the reception block 

- a brand new habitat-red-woodwork building. I 
thought of the painted lorries which transported 
Jews to their deaths. A bit too dramatic a parallel, 
but unnerving enough. The public end of the legal 
system is grand enough, and hides a transition into 
a constantly humiliating process. One prisoner 
looked terrified - I talked with him, and told him 
what I knew of the daily routine. I ./was later to 
see him gazing nervously out of a window in the 
hospital wing as I walked around the exercise yard. 
We nodded. I expect he has little if any outside 
support. 

I was the last "con" (short for convict) to be 
processed; led into a room of six prison officers, 
one behind a computer, one by some paper, another to 
my right, one in front of me, and two to my left. 
Name. Address. Date of Birth. "I'd rather not give 
that." Three officers shouted "You've got to give 
it.’" I was struck with fear and a slight touch of 
amusement at their anger and incredulity - because 
I didn't really have to give them any information. 
But such thoughts were abruptly curtailed as the 
officer in front of me hit me in the stomach. I bent 
over, winded. He pulled me up by my hair. I could 
only whisper "That hurt." Fear and an awful recog¬ 
nition of powerlessness whirled around me and knot¬ 
ted and sickened my aching stomach. I half expected 
more punches to follow, "What's your date of birth?" 
I explained why I didn't give it - that I didn't 
want to support an impersonal system based on 
violence, but I spoke with little confidence. 
Fortunately, the officer behind the computer found 
the date in some obscure records - I conceded it 
was correct. I wasn't up to prolonged confrontation. 
The fear of further blows subsided. I had been 
initiated. I was in my place. The officer in front 
of me had done his job. Religion? "Non-church 
Christian." "Oh, fucking hell..Church of England." 
Off I went to the next stage in my initiation rite 

- weighing, shower, clothes. 



The prisoners giving me clothes joked around and I 
ended up with trousers half way up my legs - which 
they eventually changed after I convinced them that, 
no, I wasn't that short-sighted. One rule of prison 
life: you have to find out everything yourself. Be 
that prison rules, routine, library hours or what*v 
ever. The myth of being furnished with a copy of 
prison rules upon request is a standing joke. I 
managed to work out I could get a jumper and 
jacket, which I did. The shirts are dead smart. 
Apparently, some prisons get broken into just to 
nick the shirts to sell. Entrepreneurial spirit 
pervades. Everyone in a soft blue denim - though 
remand prisoners wear a different colour, or their 
own clothes. 

Personal expression is limited. Monotony is the 
order of the day. The officers like to be called 
"Boss'’. You walk up those stairs, down those stairs, 
and keep off the sacred yellow tiles. Joking with 









A week. iKi Win son CiftLdoi 


other prisoners: each evening the guards chose a 
specific tile, don't tell you which one, and if you 
walk on it, you immediately get executed. Humour 
turns upside down, makes more bearable, disrupts 
the reality of four walls, enables escape. The 
Governor is Darth Vader for a few seconds, the 
prison officers forget to bring me breakfast in bed. 
Press that button and ask for a sandwich, will you? 
Where's the helicopter I ordered, i'll hire one when 
I get out. 

Then: the vegan catch twenty two. A play in many 
acts. No, you can't have a vegan diet - you've got 
to have a vegan card to be a vegan. I'd previously 
decided that the one issue I would make a stand on 
would be refusing to eat unless provided a proper 
diet. You gotta make a stand somewhere. Alongside 
not calling the officers "Boss" - strictly against 
my religion. Well, I suppose I might have reconsid¬ 
ered, once beaten unconscious. Anyway, in the course 
of my six days I was denied an application for a 
vegan diet, threatened with a single cell, offered 
cabbage and porridge, and saw the Principal Officer 
three times. On the first meeting he said he didn't 
care less if I didn't eat; the second he said it'd 
be the padded cell if I didn't eat; the third, on 
deprocessing. he did his official bi*t of asking me 
I had any complaints, and then refused to write 
uiem and told me to go away. So, it's impossible to 
be a vegan without a vegan card. We won't give you 
a proper diet, and you'll be punished if you don't 
eat it. And, you're mad. And, no you can't use any 
of the official complaints procedures. By about day 
three I felt confident that the threats were bluffs, 
and about day four some officers decided they defi¬ 
nitely couldn't care less, as I would be out in a 
couple of days. 

Still, the ill-ease of my fasting merged with dis- 
empowerment, and I was never too sure if I felt low 
because of hunger or hopelessness. 

The first night is spent in one wing, and then you’ 
are moved to more permament accomodation. The 
routine of prison life I'd been briefed clearly 
about before I went in, and it worked out much less 
pressured than my nervous mind had imagined. Sixish, 
lights on. About twenty minutes' lie-in till door 
bolt slid back. Slop out, go to the loo, get water 
for washing. Locked in. Fifteen minutes later, go 
downstairs for breakfast. Locked in for breakfast. 

p out. Weather permitting, about 45 minutes of 
txercise in the morning (it snowed, so I only got 
out twice in six days - consequently spending about 
23% hours a day in my cell, if not more). Lunch 
about half eleven. Slop out. Fourish, tea. Slop out. 
Half sixish, final slop out. (All these times could 
be way out, as I had no access to a time machine) 
Then, a prison officer comes in, tucks you into bed, 
reads you a bed time story. "Goodnight Boss". "Good¬ 
night." "Boss." "Yes." "I love you Boss." "Now, try 
to get some sleep." (this conversation may well be 
fictional) And the clock turns full circle. 

There are plenty of survival mechanisms. Sleep. Most 
of the morning. A good part of the afternoon. Go to 
bed early. Chat and loiter at every opportunity - 
but don't push your luck. Jest and joke. Read - 
library books, tabloids, pornography. Make models 
out of matches - you can buy kits at the canteen 
(you get £1.50 a week). Listen to a radio, if you've 
got one. Play chess. Take drugs - be it the alcohol 
from floor polish, tobacco, cannabis, heroin. In 
some prisons, homebrew, but in Winson Green slop 
buckets are checked. Masturbate. Write a letter. 
Appeal against your sentence. Wash your hair. Day 
dream. Wait for a visit. Chat. Smoke. 

The thinnest cigarettes. A restless smell of stale 
smoke, sweat, urine, disinfectant, lingers every¬ 
where. Radio One was on fourteen hours a day in my 
cell - numbed to insensitivity and incessant head¬ 
ache, Sickened by a mindless culture. I've never 


slept so badly, so consistently. 

Two "treats" of the week - film and chapel. The 
former in the chapel. I was told it was to be a car 
chase, but it turned out to be a sex-fantasy murder. 
About the most perverse and violent theme imagin¬ 
able - in the chapel, projected above the altar, 
several jundred men watching the systematic object¬ 
ification, harassment, rape and murder of women. I 
felt like shouting, but lacked confidence, and asked 
a prison officer to take me back to my cell. I sat 
down and whirled with intensity as I took in the 
awfulness of such a scene - the nearest I got to 
feeling prayerful throughout my sentence. When my 
cell-mate got back from the film, we talked about 
sexism, objectification, sex, sexuality, child- 
rearing, morality, anarchy, biker culture, violence, 
nonviolence, prison experiences, peace actions, and 
more. Our series of conversations were really fruit¬ 
ful, despite being polar opposites in our priorities. 
Indeed, I got no hassle off any of the other prison¬ 
ers, which had been one of my fears (though friends 
have related quite terrible stories. Every experi¬ 
ence is different). They thought of me as, if any¬ 
thing, a sort of oddity, a stubborn vegan, only in 
for a week. "We've been talking. You'd never make 
a bank robber." Oh well. 

The prison officers: the temptation to call them 
"screws"; to dehunanise them as they dehumanise you. 

I thought I'd be able to remember the one who hit 
me, but I saw several who reminded me of him. The 
cap peak lowered, the moustache, the contempt, the 
confident swagger, the swearing:"Hancock, get the 
fuck over there." The keys. The whistling just 
before opening any important door. "Of course we 
don't believe you. You're a prisoner." One or two 
try to distance themselves from the behaviour of 
their colleagues by touches of friendliness, 
leniency, concern. But they all know the score, they 
all know what goes on. 


continued overleaf 



11 






























The punishment block: the sound of running feet as 
someone is taken down. Single cell. Cardboard furn¬ 
iture. Fear. The high possibility of being beaten 
up. The tokenism of the tribunal, or whatever it's 
called. I met one prisoner, who*d taken a cup of tea 
at the wrong time, providing an excuse for victim¬ 
isation. Taken to the punishment block, into a 
single cell. Beaten up; both arms twisted behind 
his back till breaking point, then punched and 
kicked about his front. Then told to make his bed. 

He still can't bend his arms far behind his back, 
and a bone is sticking out slightly in his chest. 

Two years ago, I was told, Barry Prosser was 
jumped upon till his stomach split. He died, was 
murdered. The verdict - accidental death - he 
slipped up on a cup. The officers involved were 
merely transferred to other prisons. The constant 
fear. The violence and hate and.power. 

But, I managed to hold onto, to salvage the sense 
of the futility of violence for violence, hate for 
hate, despite my temptations to lapse into sarcasm. 
Love did seem quite hopeless - not so much impossible 
as not allowed or impractical. But not as hopeless 
or futile as violence. Still, inhumanity reigns. 
Retribution, revenge, punishment is the purpose of 
your sentence. The chaplains carry keys, and there¬ 
by betray the prisoners, and blow many chances of 
credibility or trust. "To preach the Good News to 
the poor, restore sight to the blind, and set the 
prisoners free........?" 

In the chapel service on Sunday the chaplain talked 
of conversion and said that most people were happy 
with their lives as they were, and didn't want to 
see things changed. Hardly the most appropriate 
ministry to a congregation of prisoners. He even 
asked two of the congregation to stay behind after¬ 
wards - not for punishment, but for "spiritual 
guidance". Still, the Mission Praise songs were 
blurted out with cacophonic humour, and it was 
better than being in a cell. Some stayed behind for 
communion. 

Getting letters on Saturday (all seven came on the 
one day) brought instant transformation to me. It's 
amazing how uplifting such tokens of support are. I 
could imagine concern, support, prayers, but my 
imagination was dampened. Getting the letters, I 
couldn't suppress a broad smile - happiness and 
slight embarassraent at the attention. 

On Sunday afternoon I wrote my final letter, decid¬ 
ing to write to Martin Forran (see article below) as 
an act of solidarity. All letters incoming and out¬ 
going are opened, and I didn't expect it to get to 
him, which it did. I'd bought three letters, a pen, 
and 20Qnl of apple juice which I made last five 
days. I'd take a little sip, gulp down some water, 
finishing with another sip of apple juice, not quite 
convincing myself. 

By Sunday evening, my excitement was buzzing around 
in my head, in anticipation of my release the next 
morning. I endured the Top Forty, played chess and 
stayed up talking of school experiences for a couple 
of hours. I slept terribly. 

The next morning I got up as soon as the lights went 
on, got dressed, rolled up my bedding, hid my prison 
notes, and waited for my release. I said goodbye to 
my cell-mates, and then went into reverse. I hadn't 
expected the farewell of venom which several of the 
guards gave me - obviously remembering my initiation. 
"Shut your mouth Hancock, you're not out yet." "Any 
complaints?" "Yes." "Right, we'll keep you in the d 
day to investigate it." "Forget it, I'd rather get 
out." They smiled. Far easier to co-operate. Violence 
and lies and threats and contempt bear their rotten 
and submissive fruits. Right up to the gate. "Fucking 
get over there.'" And, then, release. Unreal freedom. 
Tired. Hungry. Relieved. Thin. Roger. Chris. Home. 
Breakfast.fl 

12 



PRISWtKFORPMCE 



Shew your sol ids nty with 
war resisted to prison world wiit: 

POJT A CM& TDAf W5&NEA WWCE 

for names faddrcjJts 1 W. • Sfc€ b 

55I>awesSt. 1£L 

New Catalogue also out 



P.S. Next issue, 1*11 try to put my experience into 
a wider context, looking at the status quo which 
prisons uphold, and arguing for their destruction 
and Christian non-cooperation with the legal system. 
I think. 


P.P.S. If you want, please write a letter to: 

The Governor, HMP Winson Green, BIRMINGHAM B18, 
mentioning the refusal to provide me with a vegan 
diet, the threat of punishment and insinuation of 
madness for not eating, and demand/ask that vegans 
be given equal status with vegetarians and omnivores, 
suggesting that Vegan Society membership is not and 
should not be a pre-requisite and condition for 
veganism. Something like that. 


P.P.P.S. Write to prisoners. A card, a painting, a 
letter. It makes the world of difference. 


P.P.P.P.S. "Let the person without sin cast the first 
stone." Is Christian discipleship compatible with 
support for the legal system and its accompanying 
mechanisms? Discuss. 

"The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the 
sound of it but you do not know where it comes from 
and where it is going; so it is with everyone who is 
born of the spirit." John 3:8 

MA*RTIM T=ot^AkJ 

hartin Foran was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment 
in June 1978, following a series of burglaries in 
Birmingham in September 1977, committed by a group 
of black and white youths. The white youth involved 
in the robberies was described as 3 feet tall, slim 
built and between 18 and 20 years old. Martin was 3'— 
years old, tall and thickset. One of the witnesses, 
on being shown pictures of Martin, stated that thertT" 
was no way that Martin could have been one of the 
burglars. 


Right from the moment of his arrest, Martin protested 
his innocence, and whilst in prison went on hunger 
strike to help bring attention to his case. As a 
result of this he was transferred to Leicester Prison, 
from which he escaped. After stating his case to the 
national newspapers, he gave himself up to the auth¬ 
orities. He was then transferred co Nottingham Prison 
where he conducted a 5\ week rooftop protest to high¬ 
light his unjust imprisonment. After this, Martin's 
case was discussed in the House of Commons, but to no 
avail. He was then transferred to Gartree and then 
Lincoln Prison, despite the governor's promise not to 
do so. He then continued his hunger strike and was 
eventually released in February 1984. 

After his release, Martin and his family moved to 
Kingshurst, Birmingham where he set up a second¬ 
hand car dealer and scrap metal business. Martin 
continued to protest his innoncence despite constant 
hatrassment from the police. He was accused of murder¬ 
ing a woman, even though he was in prison at the ti«e 
of the murder, and was also constantly accused of 
stealing his own car. 

On the 10th of Srpt-ember 1984, Martin was arrested 
on two charges; one of robbery and another of 


Stephen Hancock 








conspiracy to rob. That day 3 youths had robbed a 
publican at his pub in Birmingham of £1700, The 
publican described the 3 youths as; 

1 - Half-caste, West Indian male, light complexien, 
age approx, 17, 5 feey 6 inches tall, dark wavy 
collar length hair, carrying a 6 inch knife, 

2 - West Indian male, well built, taller than 1, 
wearing a balaclava and carrying a stick. 

3 - unseen, but in common with 1 and 2 had a 
Birmingham accent. 

According to the police, Martin Foran was the 
second man. As well as being considerably taller, 
Martin is white and has a strong Irish accent 

The result of the trial was a sentence totalling 8 
years for Martin - 6 years for robbery and two for 
conspiracy to rob. While he was in Winson Green 
Prison, Martin started to get an anal discharge of 
mucus and was sent for hospital treatment. When he 
was next visited by his wife Valerie and his son 
Martin, the visit was restricted to his csll. The 
prison officers refused to say why so the three of 
them barracaded themselves in the cell in the hope 
of finding out why. 

Consequntly he was transferred to Wandsworth Prison 
where his health deteriorated even further. There 
he was forced to take one of the prison officers 
J^^tage so as to obtain hospital treatment.. It 

continued, on back cover 



EITHICAL ELXPLO i TATlOH? 


DAN MARTIN is field officer in the Justice and Peace 
Office of the (Roman Catholic) diocese of Southwark. 

In 1986 the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development 
(CAFOD) established formal links with Traidcraft, and 
in May Dan Martin shared some misgivings 
about this with the readers of ’Southwark Justice and 
Peace News' in an article which we reprint here. It is 
particularly timely, as increasing numbers of 
organisations are following Traidcraft's example and 
marketing "ethnic" Third World products in this 
country through shops or catalogue sales. 


TRAIDCRAFT ORGANISES the sale of goods direct from 
Third World producers to consumers in this country, 
by-passing transnational corporations and other 
profit-seeking middle agents. Advocates of Traidcraft 
^*ke the following claims about the prganisation: 

i.j Traidcraft is non-profit making and therefore more of 
the money goes to the producer. 

12] It is ’fairer* trade, sometimes described as ’fair’ or 
’just’ or 'equitable' trade. 

13) There is a development education element in its 
products / catalogue which encourages consumers to 
think about Third World products, labour and culture. 

(41 Products bought through the catalogue help 
development agencies (i.e. CAFOD and Christian Aid). 

(5] It encourages small cooperatives and/or supports 
producers that have a .genuine concern for its workers 
(e.g. Nicaragua). 

As far as it goes, therefore. Traidcraft is an admirable 
organisation and one which is attracting more and more 
support. 

CONSUMPTION 

The poverty in the Third World to which Traidcraft is 
responding is largely a result of 300 - 400 years of 
exploitation and robbery by more powerful countries, and 
it continues through existing patterns of trade and 
habits of consumption. This process is fuelled by what 
economists call 'effective demand', which is the 
willingness and ability of people to pay for consumer 
goods. Transnational corporations are very efficient at 
providing the goods regardless of the consequences for 
the environment and people of the Third World. 'Effective 
demand’ is the fuel, and TNCs are the vehicle, for Third 
World impoverishment. 


However admirable its other attributes. Traidcraft 
does not challenge this consumption pattern but makes 
it more attractive. Through Traidcraft we can now have 
our bread buttered on both sides. We can now consume 
and feel good, rather than guilty. Through Traidcraft we 
are assured that the producers are paid 'a fair wage, 
working conditions are better, there is no "middle man", 
etc.', and all this is good... but it is still a buyers' 
market. It is still we in the rich first world who determine 
and kind and quantity of products that are produced. 

The basic relationship is not questioned. The people we 
have impoverished must still work for us to earn their 
daily bread. The irony is that we can only afford Third 
World products because of past and present 
exploitation. But why should the impoverished work for 
us one second longer than they have to, however better 
their conditions are? 

I also think it is quite ironic (to use a mild adjective) 
to see Christian Aid and now CAFOD, two organisations 
working for justice and development, promoting the sale 
of food and household decorations to first world 
consumers from countries that do not have enough of 
either. 

Years ago CAFOD warned people of the hazards of 
Third World child adoption schemes, but does not 
Traidcraft pose the same hazards? The adopted child 
whose education, meals, medicines are paid for does 
receive a benefit, and it is a measure of justice, but is it 
the way forward for development agencies and people 
concerned for social justice? CAFOD has said ’no' 
because there is a better way to help children in the 
Third World. I agree with this position, and it is one which 
does not challenge or question the sincerity of people 
who 'adopt' Third World children. 

Child adoption schemes have a danger of fostering 
the wrong attitudes in both donor and recipient. It is an 
active-passive relationship. The donor is charitable and 
the recipient is grateful, and because of the usual racial 
combination the scheme, objectively, implies that white 
people are better / better off than non-white people. 
Hence it sustains racial prejudices and ignores the 
culpability of the donor in the creating of and 
benefitting from the injustice which surrounds 'his/her 
adopted' child. Also, children are members of communities: 
raise the standards of community life and the children 
will fare better. 

continued overleaf 


Stephen 






Through Traidcraft small workers* collectives have 
access to the pot of gold in the first world. Of course 
not everything in the Third World is saleable and neither 
is everyone in the Third World employable. Therefore 
selection must be made on the basis of what people here 
will buy. Does this not invidiously separate one part of 
the community from the larger part, and advance some 
members separately from others? 

At the same time - like the child adoption scheme - we 
can feel good, and rightly so, because we have helped 
some people; we have done somet hing to alleviate 
poverty. But like the adopted child, Traidcraft producers 
are beholden to first world consumers, dependent on our 
charity and grateful for our attention. A measure of 
justice can, and often does, obscure the larger injustice. 
And to say 'no* to child adoption schemes and 'yes* to 
Traidcraft seems to be contradictory. 

In Traidcraft*s 1985-6 catalogue Cardinal Hume writes 
in support of CAFOD's formal link with Traidcraft: “For 
too long we in the North have used the countries in the 
South as sources of both cheap labour and natural 
resources. By buying direct from small producers and 
workers* co-operatives Traidcraft knows that a fair 
price is paid, and that the money will go to those who do 
the work." But the fact is that we are still using cheap 
labour and depleting the resources of the South. More 
money may be going to the producers but it is still 
cheap: otherwise the goods could not be transported 
half way round the world and sold here. Also the *fair 
price / fair wage* paid is at or only slightly above local 
rates, and these are determined by the larger social 
climate. CAFOD's goal of encouraging 'self-sufficiency* is 
not enhanced by links with Traidcraft, because 
Traidcraft is founded on dependence. Granted it is a 
modified version of what has existed before and still 
does exist, and a better one, but it still relies on the old 
dependent, first world / third world relationship with the 
first world partner being the dominant one. 


Nowhere in Traidcraft literature do I read of the need to 
change and reduce first world consumption patterns, 
modifying 'effective demand*. Rather, we are encouraged 
to change only our source or supplier. 'Fair trade* is only 


possible between equals. The relationship as it exists 
now is one of gross inequality of wealth and power. What 
is required is a reversal of 300 - 400 years of imperial 
culture. 

Yet Traidcraft lessens the exploitation, is therefore 
better than transnational corporations, and should be 
used as a 'halfway house' - a transitional tool - for first 
world consumers on the way from full dependence on 
Third World products to no, or minimal, dependence. So rf 
people must buy products from the Third World - and it is 
difficult not to - it is much better to buy through 
Traidcraft. In some cases, as with the sale of 
Nicaraguan coffee, consumption is a political as well as 
an economic statement of values. 

But better still is the transfer of wealth to the Third 
World direct , rather than through Traidcraft which 
perpetuates the view and the reality that the Third 
World exists as a workshop or global shopping centre for 
us consumers in the first world. These transfers can 
take place through development agencies like CAFOO. and 
through liberation movements and organisations in the 
Third World. 

Such direct transfers are the essence of justice, are 
an act of restitution, and best foster the attitude that 
'we are not bestowing a gift to the poor person but are 
handing back to him/her what is his/hers.' (St Ambrose). 
My understanding of the teaching of the Church in a 
situation of such inequality as exists now is one of 
voluntary poverty for the sake of sharing out of our 
sustenance, rather than out of our abundance. 
Traidcraft smacks of the 'work ethic* attitude whereby 
the poor must earn their right to our abundance and 
generosity. We dare not give without getting back in 
return. 

I am not prompted to write by the idea that Traidcraft 
is bad, but because its supporters claim too much for it. 
Traidcraft is not 'fair* trade, but fairer trade; rt is not 
'free of exploitation*, but freer; it is not 'equitable 
trading*, but less iniquitous trading; it is not 
'partnership' but benevolence; it is a better-run 
workhouse for the 'orphans, widows, stranger - the 
anawim, the poor'. It is not 'radical* but liberal - which 
may account for its growing popularity. • 




ML THINU IK COMMON 

‘'They came to Thessolonica...and paul.« . reasoned 
with then out of the scriptures and some of thee 
beleived•. • and of the chief women not a few.But 
the '-Jews * * • moved with envy took unto them certa__ 
in, lewd fellows of the baser sort and gathered a 
company and set the city in an uproar...crying 
those that have turned the world upside down 
have come hither also." Acts 17:1-9 

Winstanley *s writings come from a time of great 
social upheaval and economic change. Whilst 
the transition from feudal to industrialised 
society was happening making way for the enclo__ 
sure acts and industrial, cities thus leaving 
ownership of land in the hands of very few 
capitalists.’ The history of such groups as the 
Levelers and Diggers show an attempt by cogsoc 
people of England to impose their own solutions 
to the problems of their time. 

With the invention of the printing press and the 
Bible being in English for the first time the 
established church lost its monopoly on inforsatio 
and interpretation was open to anyone. 
























This gave rise to reiigios groups such as the Bapt_ 
ists,Quakers and Muggletonians and also political 
groups such as Levelers ,diggers, fifth monarchists 
etc.Thus calling into question old ideas,attitudes, 
values and beliefs in the words of Winstanley "the 
old world...is running up like the parchment in the 
fire." Thus this was a revolt within a revolution.^ 
attempt for common ownership of land and property. 


..for the present state of the old world that is 
running up like parchment in the fire, and wearing 
away, we see proud imaginary flesh, which is the 
wise serpent, rises up in flesh and gets domination 
in some to rule over others, and so forces one part 
of the creation, man, to be a slave to another; and 
thereby the spirit is killed in both. The one looks 
himself as teacher and ruler, and so is lifted up in 
pride over his fellow creatures. The other looks 


Winstanley sees the earth as created by the great 
creator"Reason" (God) who made the earth a common 
treasury for all but man abuses earth through domin_ 
ation particularly political/economic domination. 
However he sees biblical prophecy and the light wit_ 
hin each person as pointing towards the inevitable 
re-establishment of the earth as a common treasury. 
Dave. 


On April 1st 1649 some Diggers began to dig St. 
George's hill in Surrey. The following is a condensed 
version of a pamphlet brought out by them- It 
appears in its entirity in "The Law of Freedom & 

Other Writings", a Penguin edited by Christopher Hill. 


The True 

Levellers Standard 

O R, 

The Scatc of Community opened, and Prcfcntcd to the 
Sons of Men. 

Beginning to Plane and Manure the Warte land upon 
Ccerge-HUl , in the Parilh of Walton, in the 
Count)' of Surry. 



upon himself as imperfect, and so is dejected in his 
spirit, and looks upon his fellow creature of his 
own image as lord above him. 

But when the ealth becomes a common treasury again 
as'it must, for all the prophesies of Scriptures and 
reason are circled here in this community, and 
mankind must have t^e law of righteousness once 
more writ in his heart, and all must be made of 
one heart and one mind. 


A declaration to the powers of England and to all 
the powers of the world, shewing the cause why the 
common people of England have begun and gives 
consent to dig up, manure and sow com upon George 
Hill in Surrey; by those that have subscribed, and 
thousands more that gives consent. 

In the beginning of time, the great creator Reason 
made the earth to be a common treasury, to preserve 
beasts, birds, fishes and man, the lord that was to 
govern this creation; for man had dominion given to 
him, over the beasts, birds and fishes; but not one 
wor d was spoken in the beginning, that one branch of 
cind should rule over another. 

But since human flesh ( that king of beasts ) began 
to delight himself in the objects of the creation, 
more than in the spirit reason and righteousness, 
who manifests himself to be the indweller in the 
five senses of hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, 
feeling; then he fell into blindness of mind and 
weakness of heart, and runs abroad for a teacher and 
ruler. And so selfish imagination, taking possess¬ 
ion 'of the five senses and ruling as king in the 
room of reason therein, and working with covetousn¬ 
ess, did set up one man to teach and rule over 
another; and thereby the spirit was killed and man 
was brought into bondage and became a greater slave 
to such of his own kind, than the beasts of the 
field were to him. 

And hereupon the earth (which was made to be a 
commontreasury of relief to all, both beasts and 
man) was hedged into enclosures by the teachers and 
rulers, and the others were made into servants and 
slaves: and the earth that is within this creation 
made a common storehouse for all, is bought and sold 
and kept in the hands of a few, whereby the great 
creator is mightJLly dishonoured, as if he were a 
respecter of persons, delighting in the comfortable 
livlihood of some, and rejoicing in the miserable 
poverty and sraits of others. From the beginning 
this was not so. 


Then this enmity in all lands will cease, for 
none shall dare to seek a dominion over others, 
neither shall any dare to kill another, nor desire 
more of the earth than others, for he that will rule 
over, imprison, oppress and kill his fellow 
creatures, under what pretence so ever is a destroy¬ 
er of the creation, and an actor of the curse, and 
walks contrary to the rule of righteousness: Do as 
you would have others do to you; and love your 
enemies, not in words but in actions. 

0 thou powers of England, thought thou hast promised 
to make this people a free people, yet thou hast so 
handled the matter through thy self-seeking humour 
that thou hast wrapped us up more in bondage, and 
oppression lies heavier upon us; not only bringing 
thy fellow creatures, the commoners, to a morsel of 
bread, but by confounding all sorts of people by 
thy government of doing and undoing. 

The work we are going about is this, to dig up 
George's Hill and the waste ground thereabouts and 
to sow corn, and to eat our bread together by the >- 
sweat of our brows. 


*na uie nrst reason is this, that we may work in 
righteousness and lay the foundation of making the 
earth a common treasury for all, both rich and poor 
that everyone that is bom in the land may be fed b 
the earth his mother that brought him forth, accord 
ing to the reason that rules in the creation. Not 
enclosing any part into any particular han^, but al 
as one man working together and feeding together as 
sons of one father , members of one family; not on 
lording it over another, but all looking upon each 
other as equals in the creation; so that maker may 
be glorified in the work of his own hands , and 
that everyone may see he is no respecter of persons 
but equally loves his whole creation and hates noth 

ser P ent > wil ich is covetousness, branchi 
ng fo*h into selfish imagination, pride, e^vy, 

ypocncy, uncleanliness; all seeking the ease and 
onour of flesh and fighting against the spirit 
reason that made the creation; for that is the corr- 






uption, the curse, the devil, the father of lies, 
death and bondage, that serpent and dragon that the 
creation is to be delivered from. 

For it is shewed us that so long as we or any other 
doth own the earth to be the peculiar interest of 
lords and landlords, and not common to others as 
well as them, we own the curse, and holds the creat¬ 
ion under bondage; and so long as we or any other 
doth own landlords and tenants, for one to call the 
land his, or another to hire it of him, or for one 
to give hire and for another to work for hire; this 
is to dishonour the work of creation. 

And that...civil property is the curse is manifest 
thus: those that buy and sell land, and are landl¬ 
ords, have got'^either by oppression or murder or 
theft; and all landlords lives in the breach of the 
seventh and eigh'th commandments, Thou shalt not 
steal nor kill. 

First by their oppression: they have by their 
subtle imaginary and covetous wit got the plain- 
hearted poor or younger brethren to work for them 
for small wages and by thei» work have got a great 
increase; for the poor by their labour lifts up 
tyrants to to rule over them; or else by their 
covetous wit they have out-reached the plain- 
hearted in buying and selling, and thereby enriched 
themselves but impoverished others: or else by their 
subtle wit, having been a lifter up into places of 
trust, have enforced people to pay money for a ' 
public use, but have divided much of it into their 
private purses; and so have got it by oppression. 

Then secondly for murder: they have by subtle wit 
and power pretended to preserve a people in safety 
by the power of the sword; and by what a large pay, 
much free-quarter and other booties which they call 
their own, they get much monies, and with this they 
buy land and become landlords; and if once landlords 
then they rise to be justices, rulers and state 
govemers,<as experience shews. But all this is but 
a bloody and subtle thievery, countenanced by a law 
that covetousness made; and this is a breach of the 
seventh commandment, Thou shalt not kill. 

And likewise thirdly a breach of the eighth comma¬ 
ndment, Thou shalt not steal: but these landlords 

have thus stolen the earth from their fellow- 
creatures, that have an equal share with them by 
the law of reason and creation, as well as they. 

If you look through the earth, you shall see that 
the landlords, teachers and rulers are oppressors, 
murderers and thieves in this manner. But it was 
not thus from the beginning. And this is one reason 
of our digging and labouring the earth one with 
another,that we might work in righteousness and lift 
up the creation from bondage. 

Secondly in that we begin to dig upon George’s Hill 
to eat our bread together by righteous labour and 
sweat of our brows, it was shewed us by vision in 
dreams that that should be the place we should 
begin upon. 

Thirdly it is shewed us that all the prophesies, 
visions and revelations of scriptures, of prophets 
and apstles, concerning the calling of the Jews, the 
restoration of Israel, and making of all that people 
the inheriters of the whole earth, doth all seat 
themselves in this work of making the whole earth a 
common.treasury. 

And if the earth is not peculiar to any one branch 
or branches of mankind, but the inheritenve of all 
; then it is free and common for all, to work 
together and eat togrther. 

And truly, you councillors and powers of the earth, 
know this, that wheresoever there is a people thus 


united by common community of livilyhood into 
oneness, it will become the strongest land in the 
world, for then they will be as one man to defend 
their inheritence; and salvation (which is liberty 
and peace) is the walla and bulwarks of that land or 
city. 

Whereas on the other side, pleading for property and 
single interest divides the people of a land and the 
whole world into parties, and is the cause of all 
wars and bloodshed and contention everywhere. 

...that which does encourage us to go on in this 
work is this: we find the streaming out of love in 
our hearts towards all,to enemies as well as friends 
- we would have none live in be jery, poverty or 
sorrow, but that everyone might enjoy the benefit of 
his creation: we have peace in our hearts and quiet 
rejoicing in our work, and filled with sweet content 
though we have but a dish of roots and bread for c 
our food. 

The common people are filled with good words from 
pulpits and council tables, but no good deeds; for 


HtIJJI 

m '' 'V 

'bi'istfiiiijfiiiiii 

GR€€A AAARCHV 


they wait and wait for good and for deliverences, 
but none comes. While they wait for liberty, behold 
greater bondage comes instead of it; and burdens, 
oppressions, task masters, from sessions, lawyers, 
bailiffs of hundreds, committees, improprieters, 
clerks of peace and courts of justice (so called) 
whip the people. Oh you A-dams of the earth, you 
have rich clothing, full bellies, have your honours 
and and ease, and you puff at this; but know this 
thou stout-hearted Pharaoh, that the day of judge¬ 
ment is begun, and it will reach to thee ere long. 
Jacob hath been very low, but he is rising, and will 
do the worst thou canst; and the poor people whom 
thou oppresses shall be the saviours of the land. 

For the blessing is rising up in them, and thou 
shalt be ashamed. 

...'.'Honour thy Father and Mother": thy father, 
which is the spirit of community, that made all 
and dwells in all; thy mother, which is the earth, 
that brought us all forth: that as a true mother 
loves all her children. Therefore do not hinder 
the mother earth from giving all her children 
suck, by enclosing it into particular hands, and 
holding up that cursed bondage of enclosure by thy 
power. 

And then thou wilt repent of thy theft, in maintai¬ 
ning the eighth commandment, by stealing the land 
as I say from thy fellow-creatures, or younger 
brothers; which thou and all thy landlords have and 
do live in the breach of that commandment. 


Thus we have discharged our souls in declaring the 
cause of our digging upon George’s Hill in Surrey, 
that the great council and army of the land may take 
notice of it, that there is no intent of tumult or 
fighting, but only to get bread to eat with the 
sweat of our brows; working together in righteousn¬ 
ess and eating the blessings of the earth in 

peace. .and any of you that are the great ones 

of the earth..this conquest over thee shall be 

got, not by sword or weapon, but by my Spirit, saith 
the Lord of Hosts.®___ _ 

w 





16 















JANIE REVIEWS JCNE, 
Real anarluivt macs 


Green Anarchist 50p per issue 
Magdalen Rd, Oxford OX 41 RP 
Very strong on thir 
magazine is fairly 
Salt, but Green An 
has information ab 
slightly more viole 
what it used to be, 
reading, if only for 


Processed World $15 
mail, $7-$10 in USA 
1829, San Francisco 
Difficult to get 
retail outlets, 
american interest 
magazine is chiefly 
work is and how nast 
in the office. Reco 
has ever had a bor 
uncaring company. 
E ach magazine foe 
a, the one I h 
.alth, for example. 


from 19 


Glass War £1.75 for next six issues from: 
Po box 467 ,London E8 3QX or most normal 
anarchist / radical sources. This magazine 
is perhaps best described as the sun for 
anarchists. It advocates overthrow of the 


‘d w 

orld ri 

ghts, this 

' si 

milar to 


Pinch of 

tare 

hist is 

fo 

r pagans, 

iout 

festiva 

1 s 

and is 

nee 

orient 

a t 

ed. Not 

b 

ut still 


essential 

t h 

e herbs 

CO 

1umn.A 

f 0 

r 4 issu 

es 

surface 

f r 

om : 41 

S 

utter St. 

CA 

94104, USA 


in 

this c 

ou 

nty from 

and 

mostly 


covering 

top 

ics, th 

is 

radical 

CO 

ncerned 

w 

it h what 

y i 

t really 

i 

s to work 

mme 

nded for 

a 

nyone who 

ing 

job with 

a large 

use 

s on a 


different 

ave 

here ( 

no 

.20 ) on 


state by 
violence 
people. 
classes.A 


means of mass working 
against the police and 
Not for the timid or the 





the 
this 
always 
mornitig 
in the 


1±U±1 £1 Per year sub. contact 84b 
chapel High Street, London El 7QX 
Brought out not often enough 
anarchist-communist federation, 
interesting discussion paper is 
worth a read if you wake up one 
feeling theoretical. Articles 
current issue include a review of Maryl»in 
French s Beyond Power" and a piece bn 
Marx, Lenin and Work. this magazine is 
well thought out, convincing and worth 
reading. 

J be • M C,F * alS0 brin 9 out a more 
accessible paper called ’ Liberation 1 - 
watch out for them at demos.B 

~ A. 


COED 


-r^n- 1 m ■■ W mkm* 0 u t ' or them at demos.® 

j|ffj <i mw 

SUWpSEDiY THE LCTim PAGE BUT ITI>1PN’TQUITE 

hie letter's page is a bit dispersed - J„ K +ir,.= <= „„ I t WUKA WW I 


-_is ietter s page is a bit dispersed - Justin's is on page 
•. Franks below, and Jeremy's on page 19. Ve meant to put 

lext^ssue Andy Pster ' bUt Spa ° e Went glua P f " GO > 

Letters, we love them. Even just hellos. If you want 
them published try to make it clear - write some- 
thing like FOR PUBLICATION" at the top (or write 
’not for publication" if you don't). Tell us what 
you re up to, share concerns, news or whatever. 
CVTnnnOCXXXXDCXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXTO 

Santa Lucia 

Dear Stephen 

Dear Sisters and Brothers 

Thankyou for the copies of " A Pinch of Salt " 
which I have passed on to a couple of other 
^Qrcha - United Mystics here. The magasine is 
ry thought provoking and there is a lot to 
comment on. 

There are many anarchists and many Christians who 
state that Christianity is impossible, that there 
are things in anarchism which are incompatible 
with Christianity and vice versa. Yet, if my 
memory serves me corrc.tly it was none other than 
Kropotkin who, writing for the Encyclopedia 
Britannica ( 1904 edition? .) listed Christian 
Anarchism as one of the four types of anarchism, 
the others being anarcho-communism, anarcho- 
collectivism and anarcho-mutua1ism. 

The dogma of " No Gods, No Masters " which is 
waved at Christiananarchists isn't very convinc¬ 
ing as a political theory, no slogan ever is. 

It’s an oversimplification. Christians don’t 
have gods - they have one God. Of course many 
Christians have masters of one sort or another 
but this is against the teaching of Jesus. 

Matthew 23 quotes Jesus as being against 
Masters and Teachers - verses 8 to 12. ( but 

you don’t need me to tell you that do you) 

there is one problem for Anarchris- 
not^been sufficiently well defined, 
of " A Pinch of Salt ” it would seem 
form of Quakerism which has grown 
up with the Peace Movement, perhaps with a Catholic 
Worker popping up here and there. .Am I right in 


1007, non-violent 
stand on Liberation 


thinking that Christianarchy is 

pacifist ? If so, where do )__ 

Theology and Christian participation in 3rd world 
armed liberation movements. And what about past 
phases of ChristianarcAiy ? Would you include Munzer 
and the German anabaptists who took over Munster 
within your ancestry ? The Quakers before they 
became pacifists ? 

I think this is a real problem. We can bombard each 

other with quotes from the Bible or from Great Anar¬ 

chist Heroes, about what is right or wrong, but it 
doesn t get us anywhere and the anarchist movement 
is divided up enough already. As an Anarchist 
Interested in Religion and Spirituality I think 
that it's necessary to go beyond texts and look to 
the spirit within each one of us to guide us. If we 

can get to the truth through Zen or Tao or Acid then 

let's get to it. 

I admit this is a bit ill defined and maybe begs 
more answers than it offers. Perhaps one day I will 
be clearer too, and write you a proper article. In 
the meantime keep up the Good News, 

Love, Peace and Liberty, 

Frank. 


"The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to 
be observed;nor will they say;look,here it is or 
there it is for behold the Kingdom of God is among 
you"Luke 17:20 


For me however 
tianity : it's 
From the pages 
to be a modern 



17 





























A rtw &WW ANI> 1'AHPHLtrf 

u The arrogance of uncohtested power ",by Laurens 
Otter, describes the case of Hilda Murrell and dis¬ 
cusses the way the state abuses power. If you 
have the stomach for a tale involving narrow minded 
country folk, fascist^ and murder, then write to 

Wrekin Libertarians, College farm 
house, Wellington Salop 

Published sixty years ago," Pacifism and Class War " 
remains a compelling statement on revolutionary 
nonviolence. Written by A.J.Muste, it still has 
something to say to the peace movements through¬ 
out the industrial democracies. Hence the reissue 
by Ploughshares press. Available from PoS address, 
price 35p+ large SAE (16 pages 

Are there such things as slaves in the world today? 
According to the Anti-Slavery Society fir the Pro¬ 
tection of human rights, there are 200,000,000 world 
wide, which is over three 3 times the population of 
the U.K. To read more about the facts of modem 
slavery get the Society's " Anti-S1avery Reporter " 

£3.50 from 180 Brixton road, London SW9 6AT.® 

Are you an adventist, anarchist, apocalyptic, 
communitarian, millenarian, republican, revolu¬ 
tionary, student of nuclear doomsday- or just a 
plain visionary like the oridinary English people? 

So was John Bunyan. " John Bunyan and the search 
for an English conscience " transforms the orthodox 
image of Bunyan as a pious classic. It takes him 
out of the world of Sunday schools and exams and 
puts him in a milieu of apocalyptic, millenarian 
-even magical - beliefs and events. No disrespect 
is intended to Bunyan! On the contrary this book's 
argument is that such ideas were the common stock 
ordinary people and their leaders. By John Nichol¬ 
son, available from BM BOZO London WC1N 3XX price 
£2.40 plus p&p. (114 pages)# 

A confession and other reliqous 
by Leo Tolstoy (Penguin,1987 £3.95) 

This recently published new translation of 
some of Tolstoy's hard to get hold of minor 
works. The 'Confession' of the title is a 
description of Tolstoy's harrowing story of 
near suicide and the start of his 
redemption, in his own humanistic brand of 
Christianity. The rest of the works in the 
300 page book expand on his spiritual 
thought. Even if you don't agree with all 
that he says, this book is a very moving 
record of one remarkable man's attempt to 
find, and live by, the truth.# 


writings 


One of the wildest and most crazy groups to exist 
within the history of Christian Anarchy were the 
Ranters. Famed among the Ranter;was Abiezer Coppe. 
So rush out and steal a copy of " Abiezer Coppes : 
Selected writings" Ed. by A.Hopton. Or alternatively 
write to Aporia Press, 308 Camberwell New Road, 
London SE5 ORW sending £2.95. Full review "the 
plagues of God fell into my pocket'next issue.® 


r (j^ 



From Jeremy: "this is something I've cooked, and I 
think it passes as vegan. The quantities are some¬ 
what suspect".......• 

.ERSATZ GROUNDNUT 


palmfuls of 
onion 
2 tomatoes 
palmful peas 
carrot 


STEW. 

lentils (or TVP or beans or .....} 


1 knife's worth of marmite/yeast extract 

1 knife's worth peanut butter (this is the essential 

part) 

Chilli powder/Curry powder (optional) 

Anything else you want to throw in 


fresh; p c s si11 y 
a more attract- 




Chop up the onion and carrot; add to lentils anc 
boil (How much water? - enough) 

Add chopped up tomatoes, or eat them 
substitute tomato paste (can give it 
ive colour). 

Add peas, curry powder, yeast extract, peanut butter. 
Stop boiling when: too hungry to wait any longer 

the consistency o.f the stew looks 
a ttractive 

there is a smell of burning. It 
should still be OK. 

Eat with boiled (brown) rice, or whatever you wish 
to try it with. 

Have fun. Yours in hope/Christ/God 

Pancakes 

To make batter, add equal amounts of soya flour arc 
wholemeal flour, then mix throughly with soya nilk 
until the mixture is smooth and lump free. Heat up 
a frying pan with jsut under a tablespoon of vege* 
able oil in it, tip in a dollup on mixture ( enoug - 
to make a six inch diameter circle ) wait a aonert 
and then stop the pancake from sticking by poking a 
fishslice underneath. Turn or toss to cook other 
side, and when it is done, fold up with jam or isar- 
mite in it yum yum. 

P.S. A splodge of tahini and a pinch of salt ran ne 
added to the mix. Long live substitutionary vegar—sr! 

The promised article on veganism is simmering on Hv» 
back stove, and will be served at a later date. 

Meanwhile. 

THE VEGAN CHRISTIAN NETWORK 

' /an intxo- 
/ Write to 

Lesley for details: 10 Brook CourV^^lays Lane, 
Stratford, LONDON E15, or phone// 534 7124. 

In the meantime we're compilin /Yx directory of 
vegan Christians, so do writ//r> Lesley if you wane 





























Dearie, another LET1EK 

A basic tenet of anarchy, no God, no masters? No 
allegiance to anyone or anything that is set on a 
higher (moral, spiritual, or power) plane than one's 
self? Thus no basic human rights, no right/privelege 
to complain about injustice - surley? Since to do so 
is to assume that at least some people (oppressors/ 
communists/anybody I don't like) must acknowledge 
the existence of something higher than themselves, 
even if it is just the realisation that they are 
not the only human around. 

To me, anarchy is, in part at least, the awareness 
of a distinction between power and authority. To 
obey, to follow, authority is one thing. If the 
parachute instructor recommends not jumping without 
a parachute, you can ignore the command; but would 
you? That’s authority. You obey, follow, owe alleg¬ 
iance not through fear but because you recognise the 
existence of a greater knowledge that will benefit 
you. I believe in God, and believe that following my 


ial to me and those around me. My belief is based on 
faith; you can choose to have a different faith, 
that there is no God. But to say that to believe in 
a greater good excludes me from being an anarchist - 
whether I choose that label or not - does not 
logically follow. 

In effect, you are saying ’’Follow me; for through my 
unbelief lies the road to true anarchy”. So much for 
no leaders. 

On the question of basic human rights - which I 
presume you deny the existence of - I would argue 
they do not exist. They are priveleges. With my 
belief, I claim they are God-given priveleges - 
such as the right to life. They can be denied by 
people/society, but they do not cease to exist < 
because of that. Without a God to pass them on ; 
externally to us, these "rights” are discovered/ 
declared by people. And what they have given, they 
can take away. Yours 

Dudley 


God's laws (or at least trying to) will be benefic- I i l | |V |~| j ere my Dudlc 

LOflK AT AUTORETHlfKS HAPPENING Di J ANI/ r CAGES 

DIARY DIARY DIARY DIARY DIARY DIARY DIARY DIARY DIARY Order a bundle of "Pinchp<;“ +n =.n _ = ln , K „„ „ „ 


a bundle of "Pinches" to sell - 5,10,15,20. Sell them 
March 18-20: "SUBVERTING STUDENTS" weekend for students at next to the SVP, outside your church, inside on top send 

shelves of 
with Brum 


to friends, take to demos, place a few on the 
your local Christian bookshop. Get in touch 
address. 

To gain confidence 
Aldermaston Demo. A 


in salt selling - join us at the 


the New University - 24 South Road, Hockley, BIRMINGHAM B18 
(sounds a familiar address) 

^*i.l 1st - 4th: CND March to Aldermaston - demo on the 
w cer Monday (sell Pinch - get in touch if interested) 

April 5th - 9th: Student Christian Movement National 
Congress in Glasgow - SCH 186 St .Paul’s Rd., Balsall heath, 

BIRMINGHAM B12 

April 30th: Meal of the Vegan Christian Network - see 
opposite page 

May 1st: Sunday lunch for any interested London (and 
further if you want) "Pinch of Salt" readers, followed by 
look at material for next "Pinch" and discussion of ways 
forward &c. Contact Lesley - see opposite page under 
Vegangelical Cookery Corner. 

May 2nd:APF procession around Molesworth. 

July 16/17: Gathering in field at Brotherhood Church, 

Stapleton. More info next "Pinch" (will also try to do a 
little piece an the Brotherhood Church) 

July 24-31: Nonviolence with Dan Berrigan - London, contact address, and we’ll arrange a planning meeting 
FoR - 40-46 Harleyford Road, Vauxhall, London SE11 


I m hoping to help set up a nonviolence centre/community 
sometime in the Autumn - a resource for Christian 
anarchism-pacifism, Christian pacifism, and pacifism/active 
nonviolence. If you're atall interested, do get in touch with 
me in Brum.Stephen. A 


There are back issues of no.s 2,5,7 & 8 available upon 
request. Also, copies of Ammon Hennacy's “The Book of 
Ammon" available for £6,50 Cincl p&p). And badges. A 

Several people are interested in a Christian Hunt Sab - if 
there are any more out there, please get in touch via APoS 


Don't forget Greenbelt August Bank holiday.I 
THOSE WHO PUT THIS ISSUE OUT . 


Stephen is an ali 
whom the Jesus 



tea youth 
People like to 


Lesley likes 
flowery materials, 
apart from that is 
indescribable. She 
also lives with 
Harold and Stan 



ho. In his spare time 


Jamie likes 
vegan 
biscuits 
-please 
send him 
some. 


As you may easily notice, "A Pinch of 
Salt" is very male dominated. This is not the state of the 
magazine we want, maybe it's a reflection on the appeal of 
Christian Anarchism - more likely, self-perpetuation. So, 
please, especially women, get involved - send in graphics, 
poems, articles, come to the open meeting on May 1st in 
London (see diary). Tell us what you're up to, what your 
ideas of Christian Anarchism are, how it affects your life. 
Put your name down as a contact in the next "Pinch" 
and sell the mag at Aldermaston, or whatever.^ 



L13TEN YOU 
RICH PEOPLE.... 



ua ve, our resident biblical 
scholar and part-time mystic, 
lives in Welwyn 
Garden City, and 
translates the 
Bible from the 
original Good 
News Version 


irM 

l HC * JOCKS 




In the wake of the Stock Market Crash, "A Pinch' 
has embarked upon cautious recovery. Going to press Xa£t 
issue we had £197.60 (£192.70 of which is a loan from me). 
That issue, including mailings, set us back £197.40. We 
received about £170 in donations and about £20 worth of 
stamps (sending stamps is a very good idea - thanks). So, 
there's roughly £175 in the bank before going to press with 
this one. As it's a bumper issue, we're running off 1000, so 
the next printing bill's gioing (going) to be a good £270 
plus stamps. Ve rely on your donations. So, "Listen you rich 
people, weep and wail because of the misery which is coming 
upon you", or, alternatively, fill in the slip below. 

love and mammon 
Stephen 


I am 
home 


address so we 


.I live at (students please 

don't lose you in holidays).. 


give 


.I enclose a donation of £./I can't 

afford one/1 don't want to give one/1 enclose some stamps 
(Cheques payable to "A Pinch of Salt") 


19 



























wrrrrrrrrr 

rrrrrrrrrr 


rrrrrrrrrr^ 


any letters, but mine from Winson Green got 
and “lifted my spirits up“. 

All the info in this piece is taken from 

in BLACK FLAG* S 



. 'rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr? 

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr f 

y 

continued from page thirteen 


is because of this that Martin has been sentencec to 
another six years in jail. /hen his wife next 
visited him, Martin was kept behind a screen, and 
was refused water despite his sore cracked lips, 
and was not- allowed to receive any wedding anniv¬ 
ersary cards. 

Shortly afterward he was transferred to Wilton Pris¬ 
on where he had a colostomy operation. 3 weeks 
after the operation he was badly beaten up by the 
prison officers, making his medical condition even 
worse. 


Martin was then transferred to Parkhurst for 1* 
months and was then sent to Long Lartin Prison. 

There his medical condition worsened with the ad¬ 
vert of running sores in his groin and an infection 
of his colostomy. 

In August 1937 he was transfered back toParkhurst* 

His condition has improved but the sores and infect 
ions are still causing him greatdifficultlies. 

Martin was due for release in August 1989 but this 
has been put back until 1995 due to the outcoce of 
his latest trial. 

The severity of the additional sentence of 6 years 
can only be regarded as sheer revenege. It is now 
more important than ever to step up the pressure tx> 
obtain Martin's release from prison. 

Send letters to:Martin Foran,c51796, RMP Parkhurst 
Newport, Isle of Wight,P03Q 5NX 

or send letters of protest to the Governor at the 
above address. For a time Martin wasn’t being allowed ^ 

to him 


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S tephen 



SOUTH AFRICA 

Land where rights of many 
Are diced to feed privilege 
Of the few. 

Where sliced oppression 
Praises God of rubber bullet. 

And CS qas hanqs fringe 
Of polluted rain on changeless - 
Land where blood splashed sunset 
Rests in twilight sleep 
Till light from fresh dawn 
Cl9ses out aching pain 
Of scattered flesh 
Bleeding its tears behind 
Drawn curtain of night. 

Land where prophets of State 
Crown the anti Christ. 

Land where proud are exulted 
Poor humbled 

And their grief dismissed. 

Land where dispossessed kneelirr 
Beneath cloud of unseeing aocress 
Know change emerges from below 
And surges into being. 

Land where raw suffering 

rough edge of the Cross 
crucifixion 


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theclov. 


Pat Isiorbo 


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Printed by Dot 
on recycled pai